Judge Beeny
Judge America Beeny is the daughter of notorious terrorist America Jara and singer Bennett Beeny, and a fast rising star and ally of Judge Dredd. From 2137, she has been a member of the Council of Five under two different Chief Judges. Her mother was the daughter of immigrants from the Puerto Rican Wastes but before 2011, Beeny was depicted as Caucasian (as seen in the picture to the right). During "Day of Chaos", colourist Chris Blythe started to colour her with darker skin. The change was flagged in prog 1764's letters page, with the editor referring to Jara and indicating this was a permanent editorial change. Fictional character biography Beeny was conceived after her mother had been shot and put in a coma, when Bennett had implanted his mind into Jara's body. Due to the drugs her father took to prevent the body rejecting him, the infant America Beeny was born with a weakened immune system and spent six months in an isolation tank. By age five, in 2119, the young America Beeny was a lively and strong-willed child - her self-loathing father considered she took after her mother and had "none of the Beeny traits" - who grew up in luxury, co-raised by her father's assistant and the robot butler Robert. She was aware the Judges had killed her mother and were seen with suspicion. Her main companion was a rad-lizard called Scaley. Total War abducted her to force Bennett to assist them in a terrorist attack, at a point when his body was failing. While the Judges saved her, Bennett knew they would come after his daughter as a totem of America Jara and so he enrolled her as a cadet in the Academy of Law for her own protection. She took with her a letter allegedly from her father, telling her that she could change the Judges from within America: Fading of the Light, but she would later realise this was written by the android Robert, trying to put across what he thought was Bennett's wishes. Megazine 252 She served well enough to qualify for the accelerated graduation program. In her tenth year, as with all tenth year cadets, she was required to plan and execute a criminal investigation on her own. Allowed to choose her supervisor, she chose to work with Judge Dredd, and decided to take another look at the terrorist attack from her childhood, since she had decided that the first investigation had failed badly (leading indirectly to the Total War nuclear bombings of 2126).Megazine 250 The true mastermind was indeed uncovered, though not before they tried failed to kill her. During the investigation, Dredd had been cautious about her and she'd tested him throughout about his previous Total War cases. She admitted during it that she didn't blame him for killing her mother to make an example to others: the Department itself was flawed and she intended to change the system."Cadet," in Judge Dredd Megazine #250-252, 2006 In spite of her parentage (she was descended from anti-judicial activists), America Beeny appears to have the makings of a very good judge. She does however want to reform the system from the inside. With both parents dead, the closest thing she had to family was the old robo-servant, Robert. When Robert was destroyed in an attempt on her life Dredd observed "we're your family now."Megazine #252 Despite this, Beeny has sometimes visited the remains of the Statue of Liberty, where her mother was killed, as "it's as close as I'm ever going to get to her"."Judgement Call," in Judge Dredd Megazine #300 During her assessment Dredd noted Beeny's skill, comparing her to a ten-year graduate, though he did suspect that her insistence on going through the paper trail first was a means of needling him, as Dredd's hatred of paperwork is legendary. In a later story she was specifically chosen by Dredd as part of his team investigating the city's mutant facilities - an investigation done in a rage because his attempt to change the mutant segregation laws had failed. Her presence puzzled the other Judges and her as well ("Maybe he likes me"), but appeared to be a substitute consience. During a raid on a particularly foul camp, he asked her in anger if these sights made her still want to be a Judge. "Mutants in Mega-City One," in 2000 AD #1542-1545 In 2130 she graduated to full judge at age 15, after only eleven years in the Academy (the usual time being fifteen years) — two years quicker than Dredd himself managed. In fact her graduation had been accelerated on Dredd's recommendation. She was however partnered with veteran Judge Roake, until she gained enough experience to venture out on her own. Older Judges were disgruntled about receiving instructions or suggestions from someone so young, forcing her to assert her authority. In one of her first cases she investigated and solved a series of PJ Maybe copycat killings - the investigation had been steered to the wrong culprit, but she followed her suspicions (which no other Judge had) in a desire to be thorough, to the disgruntlement of older Judges. She was able to break through the falsifications and uncover the real copycat, a young child ."Emphatically Evil: The Life And Crimes Of PJ Maybe," in 2000 AD progs 1569-1575 In another, she showed herself to be somewhat liberal by Judge standards; while not agreeing with every decision she had made, Dredd defended her before a review board.Judge Dredd Megazine #300 When Dredd was assigned to supervise the construction of new townships for mutants in the Cursed Earth, Beeny was sent with him as his deputy, without Roake: an example of Deputy Chief Judge Sinfield removing any of Dredd's allies from positions of influence."Tour of Duty," in 2000 AD #1650 Her youth and irreverence irritated her subordinate Judge Munn and she pressured Judge Ramone about her painkiller habit, demanding she either resign or work on giving the pills up. In general, she got a good rapport with the subordinates and got building work completed under schedule - Dredd considered she might be future Chief Judge material with this work ethic and drive. Beeny returned to the city with Dredd (he pulled some strings to get a fake medical report ordering her out of the Cursed Earth) when Dredd was ordered to investigate PJ Maybe's attempts to murder Sinfield. It is a sign of Dredd's confidence in her that he entrusted her with Maybe's interrogation."Tour of Duty," in 2000 AD #1674-1686 Once the case was solved and Sinfield was deposed, Beeny was transferred to the Special Investigations Unit at Sector 302,2000 AD #1687 where she won the respect of juve street gangs."Twenty Years to Midnight," in Judge Dredd Megazine #302 Beeny and Roake assisted Dredd in investigating a Sov bioweapon plot in the Day of Chaos story. Beeny's paperwork focus uncovered a Sov double-agent within the department, after she realised a Psi-Division transcript had picked up the man's name - unfortunately, too late for the agent to be prevented from killing a vital pre-cog Judge. During the investigation Roake was murdered by a sleeper agent; Beeny was left distraught but refused to take time off from the investigation.2000 AD #1773-74 The sleeper was already infected with Chaos Virus but by tracking him down, she found another sleeper and interrogated him. As the situation got worse, Beeny was permanently attached with Dredd as he fought to pacify select blocks and contain the infected. The grim nature of the work – executing any and all lawbreakers and infected – wore Beeny down, causing her to strike a citizen. Distraught, she tried to turn in her badge but Dredd refused, saying it was currently legal and he needed her too badly. He privately wondered if she was going to be another promising career that burnt out."Day of Chaos" in 2000 AD 1788 In late 2136 Beeny was assigned with Dredd to the Block Judge team at Gramercy Heights, following the murder of the previous block judge. While there she once more served as Dredd's number two, while they attempted to clean up the block and deal with a major gang problem."Block Judge," in 2000 AD #1900–1909 In late 2137 Beeny and Dredd investigated a Total War terrorist cell which had assassinated a member of the Council of Five. Following the arrest of the perpetrators, Dredd recommended that Beeny be appointed to the vacant Council seat, and Chief Judge Hershey agreed."Terror Rising," in Judge Dredd Megazine #365–367 Her fellow councillor Judge Farrow never liked her, claiming years later she was "too damned facetious".Prog 2120 In her first year on the Council, she helped thwart a Texas City soft coup. She was briefly removed from the Council in early 2141, when the entire Council was dismissed by the new Chief Judge Logan."Machine Law," in 2000 AD #2118 However, when Farrow organised a coup against Logan over his Mechanismo policy - in a scene evocative of the conspiracy against McGruder in Wilderlands - and tried to bring Beeny in, she refused to allow it and was restrained to stop her blowing the whistle. She escaped captivity and alerted Dredd, ensuring the coup failed and so Logan reinstated her on the Council, acknowledging he'd made a mistake.2000 AD #2122 References External links * Character profile at archived 2000 AD website Category:Mega-City One Judges Category:Characters Category:Council of Five